For Want of a Nail
by Advent of Shadows' Archive
Summary: Iruka Umino's death during the Mizuki Incident changes everything with a domino effect. What will Naruto's life be like with such a big change? Naruto/Ino. Abandoned
1. Chapter 1

Before you read this, let me make one thing clear. This story is an abandoned story. This account is being used to archive my abandoned stories.

Furthermore, my active account is "Advent of Shadows."

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><p><strong><span>1. The Night Everything Changed<span>**

Passing the Graduation Exams was supposed to be easy. That is what Naruto had always believed. And then, he had failed them… three times. He was sure that he would be able to handle it the third time. He had trained hard, but the Clone Jutsu remained beyond him, still. Unfortunately, it was required that he learn the jutsu to pass. His grades were not good enough for him to pass without passing the ninjutsu portion of the exams, after all.

And then, everything changed….

His teacher's chunin assistant, Mizuki, offered another way to become a genin. All he had to do was to sneak into the Hokage's Office, enter his personal library, take a specific scroll, and learn one jutsu from it. Mizuki even told him about a training ground where he could try to learn the jutsu.

With the aid of his Sexy Jutsu, Naruto had done well. He had caused the Third Hokage to enter a state of unconsciousness via bloody nose with little difficulty. Retrieving the scroll and getting to the training ground after that was child's play.

As soon as he reached the training ground, Naruto unrolled the scroll and looked at the first technique listed on it. The name was the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu.

'What in the hell does that do?' Naruto wondered before reading farther.

_Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu_

_The Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu is simply the Shadow Clone Jutsu performed on a massive level. Rather than create a few solid clones like the Shadow Clone Jutsu does, the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu creates a few hundred. In addition, the hand sign used is the same._

Underneath that passage was a picture of a modified tiger hand sign that resembled a cross.

_Keep in mind that the price for creating solid clones that can interact, bleed, and perform jutsu is the same in both jutsu. All Shadow Clones possess an equal amount of chakra as the user, so creating one hundred clones literally divides the user's chakra into one-hundredths. This jutsu is exceedingly dangerous for any that lack an abundance of chakra._

_Essentially, the only difference between this and the basic Shadow Clone Jutsu is the amount of clones formed. In case one tries to learn this jutsu without first learning the Shadow Clone Jutsu, instructions for the Shadow Clone Jutsu are listed below. Simply mold more chakra for more clones. The larger the amount of chakra that is molded equals the more clones that will be created._

Naruto grinned at the realization that Shadow Clones were solid clones that could actually perform jutsu and interact with objects and people. He could already see plenty of uses with such a technique, especially since the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu would let him make hundreds of clones.

He eagerly began to read over the next part of the scroll and rolled the scroll back up once he finished.

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><p>Six hours later, Iruka Umino landed in the clearing. When he arrived, he was surprised to see Naruto sitting on the ground, panting with the Scroll of Sealing next to him. He looked like he had been working very hard.<p>

"You're just in time, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said with a grin as he stood up and put the scroll on his back. "I thought Mizuki-sensei would be here to test me though. Did you come instead?"

'What is he talking about?' Iruka thought, feeling worried. "Naruto, what am I testing you for?"

Naruto frowned. "Mizuki-sensei said if I learned a jutsu from this scroll, I'd graduate. Didn't he tell you?"

Iruka looked at Naruto in shock. He quickly figured out what was going on and pushed Naruto out of the way before turning to face a barrage of shuriken that threw him against the shed that Naruto had been sitting next to.

"You always were good at finding him, Iruka." Mizuki said as he appeared. He was in his chunin attire with a few large shuriken strapped to his back. "Now Naruto, give me the scroll."

"No, don't give him the scroll! You must never hand that scroll over to him, even if it's that or your life." Iruka said, grunting in pain. "That is the Scroll of Sealing, a scroll containing techniques that were forbidden for causing harm to the user or violating natural laws. Mizuki… he was trying to use you to get the scroll."

Naruto looked shocked at that.

"You should just hand it over. There's no point in your having it." Mizuki said. Then, he got an idea. "I'll tell you a truth that has been kept from you your entire life."

That immediately caught Iruka and Naruto's attention.

"No, don't! It's forbidden!" Iruka said.

"You know the fox attacked twelve years ago, right?" Mizuki asked, ignoring Iruka. He saw Naruto nod. "That very day, a rule was created that has been followed to this day. But… this rule was never meant to be revealed to you."

"What rule? What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, feeling even more confused than normal.

"The rule is that no one is allowed to talk about the fact that you are the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox." Mizuki said with a malicious grin.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked. From what he understood, the fox was massive. He simply could not understand how anyone could claim that he was the fox.

"Mizuki, stop it!" Iruka demanded.

"It means that you are the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox that killed Iruka's parents and nearly destroyed the village." Mizuki answered. "You were sealed away by the very Hokage that you admire, and you were lied to all of your life. Didn't you find it odd how everyone hates you? Even Iruka is the same. He actually hates you." With that, Mizuki removed a giant shuriken from his back and began to spin it in his hand. He knew that with Naruto hearing that, he would not even realize what was going on until the shuriken hit him. "Nobody will ever accept you. In fact, they'll praise me for finishing the job that the Fourth Hokage started." As he spoke those words, he threw the shuriken at Naruto.

Moments before the shuriken struck the blond, Iruka appeared over him, taking the shuriken to the back as he leaned over Naruto.

"Why…?" Naruto asked, even more confused. If he was responsible for the deaths of Iruka's parents, then why would he save him?

"I'm sorry… if I had tried harder, maybe you wouldn't have been in so much pain…." Iruka said.

Naruto backed away and took off running through the forest at that point, earning a look of despair from Iruka.

"Naruto isn't the type to have a sudden change of heart. I'm sure that he will try to get revenge on the Leaf now." Mizuki said. "You saw those eyes earlier. They were the eyes of a demon."

"Naruto is not like that." Iruka said as he removed the shuriken from his back and threw it at Mizuki, who side stepped it.

"Well… that doesn't really matter. I'll just find him, kill him, and take the scroll. I'll be back to take care of you later." Mizuki said with a shrug as he began to move into the direction where Naruto had run off to.

Naruto was hiding behind a tree with the scroll when he heard Mizuki and Iruka land on the ground after a minor clash. It seemed that Iruka had transformed into him while Mizuki had transformed into Iruka. Neither one of them knew of Naruto's close proximity.

"You would even transform into what killed your parents to protect him?" Mizuki asked incredulously.

"I won't hand the scroll over to an idiot like you!" Iruka said. After all, letting Mizuki get it from Naruto would have been just as bad as handing it over personally.

"You're the idiot. Naruto and I are the same." Mizuki said with a humorless laugh.

"What are you talking about?" Iruka asked, caught off guard by Mizuki's words.

"If you use the skills in that scroll, then you can do whatever you want." Mizuki said simply. "There's no way that demon fox wouldn't try to use the power." he added confidently. It sounded like he was teaching a class, revealing basic facts.

"Yeah… the demon fox would do that… but Naruto is different. He is… one of my excellent students. He may not be the hardest worker, and he's clumsy… but he already knows what it is to feel pain in your heart. He isn't the demon fox. He is a member of the Hidden Leaf Village. He's Naruto Uzumaki!" Iruka declared with a fierce look in his eyes. His words surprised the hiding Naruto and the angry Mizuki.

Mizuki shook his head. "Iruka, I said I would take care of you later, but I'm changing my mind." He said as he pulled out his last shuriken. "Hurry up and die!" With that, he threw the giant shuriken at Iruka, who seemed resigned to his fate.

As Mizuki took a step forward and threw the shuriken, Naruto flew towards him and knocked him backwards with a kick.

"If you touch Iruka-sensei again… I'll kill you!" Naruto said as he leveled a glare at Mizuki with the scroll still on his back.

"You're such a fool. I'll kill you with a single hit." Mizuki stated as he began to push himself off of the ground.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu" Naruto said as he formed the modified tiger hand sign.

In an instant, three hundred shadow clones formed around Mizuki, completely shocking him.

"What happened to killing me with a single hit?" Naruto said as he and all his clones cracked their knuckles. "Well, if you won't… then I'll just have to give you one hit from each of us."

Now, Mizuki was pretty good at taijutsu, but skill with taijutsu was a moot point when facing a mob of three hundred shadow clones. At least, it was when the practitioner of taijutsu was not a jonin.

Mizuki managed to dispel a handful of clones before they reached him, but he was soon knocked out by the mob as they punched him.

When Mizuki fell to the ground unconscious, the shadow clones dispelled. Naruto turned to face Iruka with a small smile on his face at that point, but his smile did not last long.

Mizuki threw his shuriken before Naruto kicked him, and Iruka was unable to dodge it.

The shuriken was lodged into Iruka's abdomen, and the chunin was lying in a puddle of his own blood. The strangest thing of all was the fact that a small smile was on his face. It seemed to contradict everything, from his bloody flak jacket to the dead man's gaze that remained in his eyes.

Tears formed in Naruto's eyes as he realized that Iruka Umino, the first person to truly accept him for who he was, was dead.

Burning hatred could be seen underneath the tears as he turned to look at the unconscious Mizuki. Fists balled as his sides as he began to close the distance of a few feet that stood between him and the chunin traitor.

Dropping to his right knee, Naruto withdrew a kunai from the holster next to his shuriken holster and held it backhanded.

Rising it over his head, he began to bring it down, with every intention of plunging it into the traitor's throat.

His hand never came down with the kunai though. An iron grip appeared around his wrist and stopped his arm before he could take his revenge on the unconscious chunin.

"Naruto, please stop. You do not want to go down that path." Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, said as he held Naruto's wrist with his left hand.

The blond glanced at the old man next to him and saw that he was in his Hokage robes and four members of the ANBU Black Ops were a little ways behind him.

Naruto wanted nothing more than to kill Mizuki, but he knew that he could not manage such a feat. The Hokage was the most powerful shinobi in the village. Naruto knew that. He knew a great deal about the position of Hokage and the previous Hokage, after all. That was how he knew that even _if_ he could get his hand free from the old man's grip, it would have been child's play for the Hokage to stop him before the kunai reached Mizuki.

He also had to consider the fact that Hiruzen Sarutobi had always been nice to him and treated him to ramen every year on his birthday. They were not as close as Naruto and Iruka had been, but the only others that Naruto had been close to at all were Teuchi and Ayame from the Ichiraku Ramen Stand.

Rising to his feet but not even attempting to remove his hand from the Hokage's grip, Naruto said, "I don't know if I can stop… I want to go down this path… he deserves to die."

Hiruzen instantly realized that the blond had misinterpreted him slightly. "I am not asking you to stop hating him. I could never ask something like that of you. You have every right to hate Mizuki. He used you and he killed Iruka. But… you must not go down the path of vengeance. Revenge is not the way. I promise you that he will pay for his crimes, but there is nothing to be gained by killing him."

"You're not going to execute him." Naruto stated, shocked at the realization.

"I did not say that." Hiruzen said firmly. "We must first determine that there is nothing to gain by leaving him alive. That means interrogation among other things. Suffice to say, that he will be executed once we have determined that there is nothing to be gained by leaving him alive."

"What if there is something to be gained by leaving him alive?" Naruto asked darkly.

"The only such thing would be something like information. Once we obtain it, he won't be worth keeping alive. I promise you that." Hiruzen said.

Though Naruto hated to admit it, the Hokage had a point. It was important that they figure out why Mizuki did what he did, after all. "Fine… I don't like it, but I can accept it."

"If I remove my hand, will you put the kunai up?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yeah… I will." Naruto said softly. As he spoke those words, the Hokage removed his hand from the blond's wrist, allowing Naruto to put the kunai back into its holster.

Reaching into his robes, the Hokage removed and withdrew a piece of metal. "I was in a hurry trying to get here, but I was able to grab this before I left my office. It is yours." As Naruto heard his words, the piece of metal was handed to him.

Taking it in his hands, Naruto quickly realized what it was. It was a plain piece of metal that had the leaf insignia carved into it. It was the metal of a forehead protector.

"But… I failed the Graduation Exams… and I failed to save Iruka-sensei." Naruto said softly, tears once again forming in his eyes.

"You snuck past all of my guards, prevented me from stopping you, stole the Scroll of Seals, learned a B-rank ninjutsu and an A-rank kinjutsu, and defeated a traitor of the village. From my perspective, you earned this more than any of your classmates." Hiruzen said firmly. "What would Iruka say if he saw you turning this down?"

A grim smile made its way on Naruto's face as he spoke. "He'd probably call me an idiot and tell me to take it." He placed the piece of metal in his pocket at that point. "I… I'm sorry that I stole the scroll. If I hadn't done it, then Iruka-sensei would still be alive."

"You obeyed one of your teachers. I cannot fault you for that." Hiruzen said as he shook his head. He did not believe that any apologies were necessary. "If you had not stolen it, Mizuki likely would have waited until I was out of my office and would have stolen it himself. I can only imagine what would have happened as a result of such actions. If he had managed to get out of the village with the scroll… the results would have been disastrous. Imagine the consequences of another village or a rogue ninja gaining _all _of our forbidden jutsu."

Closing his eyes, Naruto shuddered. He was not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he knew that such a thing would have been disastrous for the village.

"Iruka was a good man, and I can understand your sorrow. Do not live in the past though. You must live in the present and look to the future." Hiruzen said sympathetically.

Naruto nodded slowly, reluctance clear in his eyes. "Old Man, why did he save me from Mizuki? The fox that killed his parents is inside me, right?"

"That's right. The Fourth Hokage sealed the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox inside of you. He did it to save the village." Hiruzen said as he looked towards Iruka's corpse. "I don't think it mattered to Iruka though. He saved you because he carried the Will of Fire, as do you. It wasn't just a duty or responsibility to him, though. Can't you tell? He died with a smile on his face… the kind of smile that you have when you are proud of your student. He did not die immediately. He no doubt saw you use the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu."

Naruto's eyes widened at that revelation.

"Now, I want you to come with me. I believe that it would be a good idea to discuss everything that happened in detail. I can't exactly have you telling your friends that you became a genin after being set up for stealing the Scroll of Sealing by Mizuki, who ended up killing Iruka." Hiruzen said. He quickly flash a few hand signals immediately after he spoke, causing two of the ANBU to pick up Iruka's body while the others picked up Mizuki.

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><p>Naruto arrived at his apartment three hours later.<p>

He had not expected to spend three hours with the Hokage following what he would address as the 'Mizuki Incident.' That day had not turned out anything like he had expected though, so it was not that much of a surprise.

Hiruzen had asked Naruto to write down everything that had happened from the Graduation Exams to him trying to kill Mizuki while he was unconscious.

After receiving what would be filed as the report for the Mizuki Incident, Hiruzen had given Naruto the cover story that would be used to explain Iruka's death and his graduation.

It had been rather simple really. Iruka had given Naruto a make-up exam after the Graduation Exams were over. Later on that day, Iruka came across Mizuki leaving the village with a scroll containing forbidden jutsu of the village. Iruka and Mizuki fought at that point, and the former sustained fatal injuries while the latter was merely incapacitated. ANBU Black Ops arrived moments after Iruka died.

Though the cover story was not too complicated, cover stories were often rather simple. As it was, Naruto's graduation, Iruka's death, and Mizuki's betrayal were all explained.

In addition to all of that, Naruto was told that he was not to use the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu without receiving permission from his jonin-sensei. The reason behind this, Hiruzen said, was that explaining Naruto's possession of a kinjutsu was a bit more difficult. The Shadow Clone Jutsu, on the other hand, was simply a B-rank ninjutsu that was not as difficult to explain him knowing. It was amazing how, despite the fact that the two jutsu were basically the same, one was easy to explain knowing and the other was difficult to explain knowing.

Their meeting had ended on a rather sad note, just as it began. It was Iruka's wish to be cremated, like his parents. Thus, there would be no funeral. Naruto did not know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing for him. On one hand, he would not have to be reminded of Iruka's death by a big event. On the other hand, Iruka's death seemed to pass without anyone taking notice.

He shook his head at the last thought. He was sure that his classmates would talk about what they had heard about Iruka's death when they went to Genin Orientation a few days later.

Looking out his window, Naruto shed a silent tear as memories of his sensei surfaced. Fate, he thought, was a cruel mistress. She took his parents away from him the day that he was born, and then she took away the person that he had come to see as an older brother right after he saw how Iruka truly felt about him.

"I'll make you proud, Iruka-sensei." Naruto promised as he looked at the stars in the sky. "I'll become the greatest Hokage, just like I always told you I would."


	2. Chapter 2

**2. A Much Needed Change**

Naruto did not leave his apartment at all on the twenty-sixth, the day after Iruka's death. He had known that Iruka's death would be announced, and he did not know if he could take being in public. People were sure to be talking about it, of course.

On the morning of the twenty-seventh, Naruto woke up earlier and left his apartment, though. The Third Hokage had told him that all of the graduates had to get their pictures taken and turned into him for registration as a ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village by February twenty-eighth at three o'clock in the afternoon.

Before going to get a picture taken, though, Naruto needed to get a cloth to attach his forehead protector to. Registration pictures were supposed to be taken with one's forehead protector on, after all.

That was what led him to the largest ninja attire and tool shop in the village, Takashi's Arms and Armor. He had only been there a few times before, but he had met Hideki Takashi, the owner of the store, already. As it turned out, he was behind the counter when Naruto walked into the shop.

"Do you need something?" Hideki asked. He recognized the blond immediately. Even if he had never met him, Hideki would know what Naruto Uzumaki looked like. Many people spoke poorly of the boy, though most of the poor words about him were a direct result of the pranking. It would have been rather unintelligent to speak of that which carried a high punishment when there were other things to complain about in regards to him.

"I need a cloth for this." Naruto said as he pulled out the metal of his forehead protector.

Hideki scratched his beard and nodded. "I can get you one. What kind of clothes do you expect to wear with it?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that and glanced down at his jumpsuit.

"You're kidding, right?" Hideki asked as he shook his head. He could tell that Naruto was not, which worried him. From what he knew of the kid, he knew that telling him he looked more like a joke than a ninja in his bright orange jumpsuit would have had the opposite effect that he had wanted. "Kid, maybe you should consider some new clothes. Those clothes you've got on came from a civilian store. Civilian clothing is not as durable as shinobi made clothing. In addition to that, your jacket could easily hang up on trees when you're travelling. I don't get why they even put those things on your shoulders."

Naruto glanced at the marker-like object hanging from his shoulder and then looked at Hideki. "Do you have any orange clothing?"

"I've got some orange pants, but I'm out of orange shirts." Hideki said, partially lying. It was true that he had some orange pants in the store, but the truth of the matter was that he also had some orange shirts. He had just gotten them in though, so they were still in the back. He did not want Naruto to get all orange clothing again. It could prove detrimental to him and his comrades.

'A little orange is better than no orange.' Naruto thought.

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><p>About half an hour later, Naruto was walking out of the shop with his new clothes. His orange, blue, and white ensemble had been replaced with black sandals, burnt orange pants, a black t-shirt with a red spiral on the front of it, and a black banded forehead protector.<p>

'I guess I should go to get my picture taken now. Hideki said I needed to drop by tonight to get my new hip pouch, shuriken holster, kunai holster, and the rest of the clothes.' Naruto thought. He had already paid for the items, though he was nearly broke as a result. If he had not saved almost all of the money he received as a ward of the village, then he would not have been able to afford the equipment. Hideki Takashi made high quality equipment after all.

Shaking his head away from such thoughts, Naruto leapt atop a nearby building and began to jump from roof to roof, heading to the Academy. Pictures were being taken on the roof of the Academy, and the Hokage was supposed to be at the Academy, taking up the pictures for registration, as well.

It did not take him long to reach the Academy.

Landing in front of the Academy, his eyes automatically went to the tree with the swing that stood before the building. It was from that swing that he had watched his classmates with their parents after they graduated six hours before Iruka's death.

Naruto took a deep breath and steadied himself. He did not want to cry… not in public, at least. He had always taken pride in his ability to smile through everything, even when he felt broken inside. It was hard to maintain that after losing the first person that he had ever considered to be important to him. The way that he felt towards Iruka… it was incomparable to what he felt to any other.

He entered the Academy and went up the stairs to the roof as soon as he felt in control of his actions again.

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><p>"Nice clothes" Hiruzen remarked when Naruto entered the room that he was taking the Shinobi Registration photos at.<p>

He was truly impressed that Naruto actually appeared to be taking his new position seriously. He just hoped that Naruto would not lose his cheerfulness. He could understand if it took a little while to come back though. Losing his mentor had to have been hard on Naruto. Hiruzen could still remember what it had felt like to lose Hashirama-sensei and Tobirama-sensei, after all.

"Thanks… I was just going to get a cloth for this," Naruto said as he tapped his forehead protector, "but Hideki said I should get some more durable clothes. He also said he was out of orange shirts, so I just chose this. It's pretty comfortable."

Hiruzen smiled. He knew that he would have to personally thank Hideki Takashi for that. "You'll be the only one with a black cloth for yours in your graduating class. Your classmates all received blue ones."

"Maybe I should've gotten blue then." Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Why would you want to be like everyone else?" Hiruzen asked teasingly. Naruto was never ordinary after all.

"I guess you're right." Naruto said with a smile. It was easy to see that the smile was only half-hearted though.

"Getting back to business, I'll take your picture now." Hiruzen said.

"Right" Naruto said as he handed the picture over to Hiruzen.

Placing the picture in Naruto's file, the Third Hokage nodded. "You're registered now. Genin Orientation will be on the first day of March at eight o'clock in the morning."

"I'll be there." Naruto said as he began to walk towards the door. As soon as he was within a few yards of the door, it opened and a young boy around the age of eight years old ran into him. He was wearing a helmet and an incredibly long scarf.

Naruto and the boy both fell to the ground, landing on their rear ends.

"You! Why'd you run into me?" the boy exclaimed, pointing at Naruto.

"What the hell are you talking about, brat? You ran into me." Naruto said as he rose to his feet and dusted his pants off. "You need to watch where you're going."

"I didn't run into you! You ran into me!" the boy said.

Sighing, Hiruzen Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose.

Naruto grabbed the boy by his scarf and hoisted him into the air. "Let's get one thing straight, brat. You ran into me. If you want to be a little bitch about it, go ahead. But, I will not sit by and let you call me a liar."

"Unhand him now! That is the Honorable Grandson of the Third Hokage!" a man with a bandana style forehead protector and a pair of black sunglasses said as he stepped through the doorway. He was wearing the typical attire of a Leaf chunin of jonin, but he did not have a flak jacket on.

"Now that you know who I am, you're just going to put me down and apologize. You guys are all the same." The boy said.

Whack!

Naruto had released the boy and brought his fist down on the boy's head as soon as he processed those words.

"You… you just hit the Honorable Grandson!"

"I don't care who he is. He's an annoying brat. Honestly, why should I be nice to him just because the Old Man's his gramps?" Naruto said before he glanced over his shoulder. "I'll see you later, Old Man. Have fun." With that, Naruto walked past the special jonin, who was dumbstruck at Naruto's words.

He was not the only one that was caught off guard by Naruto's words though.

'He… he doesn't care who I am?' the boy thought, surprised. He had never met anyone that felt that way before.

* * *

><p>Naruto's day had started out fairly well, but things had seemed to be going downhill after he met Konohamaru Sarutobi and his sensei, Ebisu.<p>

Things had changed in the hours after meeting them though.

After Naruto had left the Academy, he had found that the boy was following him with ninja skills far worse than his own. He was incredibly persistent though. After a while, the blond had agreed to teach the boy a jutsu just to shut him up and get him to stop following him.

After Naruto had successfully taught the boy the Sexy Jutsu, Naruto had learned that he was named after the village by his grandfather but was not often called by his name due to the fact that he was the grandson of the greatest Hokage.

Hearing that the boy was recognized as the Third's grandson rather than who he truly was, Naruto felt kinship to him. After all, he knew what it was like to be seen for something other than him.

It only helped the feeling of kinship when he learned that Konohamaru wanted to become Hokage.

Just as Naruto had finished telling Konohamaru that there were no short cuts to becoming Hokage and that he could only achieve the position through hard work, a cloud of smoke about fifteen feet away, caught Naruto and Konohamaru's attention.

"Leave my student alone, you miscreant." the special jonin, a man Konohamaru called Ebisu, said. "I will not have you corrupting him."

"Konohamaru, do you want to put _that jutsu_ into practice?" Naruto asked with a wink.

Grinning, Konohamaru formed a hand sign and was instantly replaced with a nude brunette whose assets were covered by then wisps of dense mist.

"Honorable Grandson, do not resort to such foolish techniques. You will not become Hokage if you do such things." Ebisu chastised.

Turning back into his original form, Konohamaru looked at Naruto with a look of confusion. "Why didn't it work? Is he immune to it?"

"It works on all perverts." Naruto answered thoughtfully. "He's definitely a pervert too. My pervert senses are tingling."

"You have pervert senses?" Konohamaru asked. When the blond nodded, he asked, "How do you do it?"

"I'm just awesome like that." Naruto said with a teasing poke to the boy's side. "I recognize a pervert when I see one. It's hard to explain. He's obviously a closet pervert though. Out-of-the-closet perverts can be beaten pretty easily. Guys like this, though, are tricky. Watch and learn."

As Naruto said that, he formed a hand sign and created a dozen shadow clones. Before anyone could say anything, they all used the Sexy Jutsu and began to run towards Ebisu, the breasts bouncing with every step. Given that their assets were covered by wisps of mist at all time, the mist bounced with every step as well.

Ebisu was suddenly thrown back with a bloody nose, and Naruto dismissed the clones.

"Don't try that on your own. It's hard to do." Naruto said as he looked at the young Sarutobi. "Maybe I should have left him alone though. I have things I need to do, and you could have gotten a bit of training if I hadn't blown him away with that jutsu."

"Don't worry about it, Boss." Konohamaru said with his right thumb sticking up. "He deserved it. He was talking bad about you."

Naruto allowed a small smile to show on his face at that point. For the first time since Iruka treated him to ramen the day before his death, Naruto's smile was one hundred percent real.

* * *

><p>The following night….<p>

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat before a large number of jonin, special jonin, and chunin in one of the meetings rooms inside the Administration Building.

The meeting that had just begun was less of a meeting and more of an announcement, in all actuality. The meeting only concerned ten of the shinobi present really, the nine jonin picked as sensei and the chunin that taught the graduating class at the Academy. Many people liked to learn what the new teams were though, especially the parents of the new genin.

To the side against the wall, some of the parents of the new genin stood. The ones that were there at that moment were Inoichi Yamanaka, Shikaku Nara, Choza Akimichi, Tsume Inuzuka, Shibi Aburame, Hiashi Hyuga, and a few shinobi of lower renown.

Towards the front of the crowd that stood before the Hokage were some of the elite jonin.

So far, Hiruzen Sarutobi had only announced the members of two of the nine total teams that were to be formed as a direct result of there being twenty-seven graduates that year. With the sixty-six percent chance of the graduates failing their final test, which was to be given by their jonin-sensei, it was likely that there would only be nine rookie genin that year.

"Team Seven will be composed of Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Choji Akimichi. I have placed Kakashi Hatake in charge of this team." Hiruzen said, earning a few surprised looks.

'Choji could not have gotten many better shinobi to train under.' Choza thought with a content look on his face. He had done many missions with Kakashi in the past, and he had come to respect the Copy Ninja greatly.

"Can you believe they put the Uchiha in Kakashi's cell? I've heard that he's never passed a team before." a jonin in the audience asked his friend.

"I'm sure he'll be different. They say Sasuke Uchiha's a true genius." the jonin's friend said.

"Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka will be Team Eight. Kurenai Yuhi will be placed in charge of them." Hiruzen said a moment later.

Hiashi kept his commonly stoic expression and nodded. It would be good to have his heiress on a team with two children from respected clans.

Shibi looked content, but he did not nod or voice his opinions on the team. He felt that it would be good for his son to be on a team similar to the one he was in when he was a genin though.

Tsume merely revealed her feral grin at the announcement.

"Kurenai, this is your first time to teach genin. Is that correct?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yes Lord Hokage, that is correct." Kurenai Yuhi replied.

"You are in a very influential position. Your teachings will make them or break them. I have every confidence that you will do well though." Hiruzen said, making sure that she understood the seriousness of her post. He would not have nominated her as a jonin-sensei if he did not believe that she had it in her to teach a team of genin though.

"I understand, Lord Hokage." Kurenai said with a nod of her head. She took his words to heart. He was a very excellent judge of ability and character, when he was not influenced by his emotions at least.

"Team Nine is still in rotation, though they go by their sensei's name most of the time. As a result, we will be skipping it and going straight to Team Ten." Hiruzen said as he looked over at Might Guy, who seemed to be in his nice guy pose already. The old Hokage was almost looking forward to his eye sight failing him so that he did not have to see those massive eye brows, green suit of spandex, and unnaturally white teeth that shined more than the finest silver of the Hyuga clan. "Team Ten will be composed of Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Naruto Uzumaki."

Everyone in the room looked surprised at that team arrangement.

'I guess that was expected. It's not like the Ino-Shika-Cho formation could be reformed since Choji was put on a different team earlier.' Shikaku thought. 'I never expected Lord Hokage to put him with Shika or Ino though.'

'This could be good for Ino. At least she's on a different team than the Uchiha.' Inoichi thought.

"Asuma Sarutobi will be in charge of Team Ten." Hiruzen said, once again catching everyone's attention.

'That's definitely a surprising choice.' Asuma thought as he looked at his father. 'I should have known he'd stick me with another team though.'

"Team Eleven will be comprised of…." Hiruzen said, continuing the announcements of the composition of the remaining teams.

It did not take long for the meeting to come to an end. When it did, Hiruzen said, "You are all dismissed. Remember that Genin Orientation is tomorrow, so you will pick up your students immediately after lunch."

With that, all of the jonin, with the single exception of Asuma, departed the room.

Seeing that his son was still present, Hiruzen asked, "Do you have a problem with your team arrangement?"

"No, I don't." Asuma said honestly. "I was just hoping that you could explain to me why you decided to place Naruto in my team. I recall you saying in the past that the Rookie of the Year and the Dead-Last should always be put in a team together. I also seem to recall that Naruto was this year's Dead-Last."

Hiruzen nodded with a smile on his face. "Naruto Uzumaki was, in fact, the Dead-Last this year. And yes, I have insisted on following that tradition many times in the past. This time, I have decided to go a different route though. Do you know much about what happened the night he graduated?"

"I heard that he stole the Scroll of Seals and that Mizuki tricked him into doing it. I haven't heard much about it beyond that though." Asuma answered.

"That did happen, and he learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu and the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu as a result." Hiruzen said. "But more than that… he learned of his burden and was accepted for who he was by his chunin-sensei, Iruka Umino."

"I take it that Iruka Umino died during the incident." Asuma said quietly. He knew that it had happened though. Iruka's death was too sudden to be caused by anything else.

"That's correct. Mizuki killed Iruka, and Naruto attempted to kill him while he was unconscious." Hiruzen answered. "To be on the safe side, I do not want to put Naruto and Sasuke on the same team. It might encourage the Uchiha to pursue a path of vengeance, when Kakashi is going to try to dissuade him of such notions."

"I think I understand now." Asuma said with a thoughtful nod. "But is it a good idea to move Choji around just to convenience Naruto?"

"I believe that Choji Akimichi will learn a great deal under Kakashi. His father respects Kakashi greatly, and it's not because of his reputation as the Copy Ninja." Hiruzen said. "Plus, I'd be a pretty bad Hokage if I did not think all of my decisions through carefully.

Asuma found that he could not disagree with his father there. He knew that his old man was a great Hokage, so overlooking such a detail was quite unlikely.

"I suppose Naruto will fill the gap that is left by Choji's absence just fine." Asuma said as he scratched his beard. "After all, they both seem like heavy hitters. If Naruto can use the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu like you claim, then things will certainly be interesting."

"Things will be interesting? You don't know the half of it, my boy. I watched him create three hundred shadow clones through my crystal ball." Hiruzen said. He could not help but smile as Asuma's jaw dropped. "That reminds me… I told him that he could not use the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu without his jonin-sensei's approval. If he used that jutsu indiscriminately, then people would begin to ask questions. No one in the village can create _that many_ shadow clones easily, after all."

"Only a jinchuriki _should_ be able to create three hundred shadow clones easily.." Asuma said as he shook his head.

The only answer Asuma received was a smile.


	3. Chapter 3

**3. Return to Hell**

Naruto sat up suddenly, waking from his slumber covered in sweat.

'How many times is this going to happen?' he thought as he shook his head. Every night since the Mizuki Incident, he had dreams of Iruka dying and him not being able to save his mentor. They were more nightmares than dreams, of course. One could hardly call watching their sensei die a dream, unless the dreamer was Orochimaru or Deidara, at least.

Naruto slid out of his bed and grabbed one of his orange pairs of pants and his black t-shirts before heading to the bathroom to take a shower.

Halfway to the bathroom, he saw one of the few pictures that he had hanging on his walls. It was a picture of him and Iruka on his most recent birthday. He closed his eyes and continued to the bathroom, knowing that he simply could not look at the picture for more than a few seconds without breaking down.

After a rather quick, hot shower, Naruto was dressed and ready to go. He knew that he still had a few more hours left until he had to be at the Academy, so he decided to go out to get some breakfast.

Slipping on his sandals and tying on his forehead protector, Naruto left his apartment.

As soon as he stepped onto the street, Naruto heard a familiar voice.

"Boss! I didn't know you lived around here!" Konohamaru exclaimed as he ran up to Naruto, panting in exhaustion.

"Yeah, I live here. So what are you up to, Kono?" Naruto said with one of the few real smiles that he had had recently. Somehow, Konohamaru reminded Naruto of Iruka, though the blond did not quite understand it. Instead of making him sad, it made him feel as though he was reliving the past.

"I was headed to go and train! Pervy-sensei is out on a mission though, so I'm just training by myself." Konohamaru answered, making Naruto smile at the nickname for Ebisu. "Hey! I got an idea! How about we train together? You've already taught me a lot, after all…."

"Sorry Kono, but I can't help you today. I'm going to go eat some breakfast, and then I have to go to Genin Orientation." Naruto said apologetically. Much like Iruka always helped him when he wanted it, Naruto wanted to help Kono when he wanted it. "If you want to get a little better though… you could always practice transforming into other people. The Sexy Jutsu is really just the Transformation Jutsu. They are both ninjutsu based transformation techniques. The only big difference is that the Sexy Jutsu is designed to work against perverts, while the Transformation Jutsu is designed for infiltration and disguising the user."

Konohamaru grinned at that. "Thanks Boss! That sounds like a good idea!" And with that, Konohamaru took off running in the opposite direction. "See you later, Boss!"

Naruto could not hide the smile that made its way on his face as he waved at the boy. He was reminded of himself when he was younger.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto headed to the only restaurant that he ever ate at, the Ichiraku Ramen Stand.

When he entered the ramen stand, he was not surprised to see that it was empty. The only people that he had ever seen eat breakfast there, other than himself, were Iruka and Choji. Choji could eat anything for breakfast though, so that was not much of a surprise.

"Naruto, it's good to see you." Teuchi said with a sad smile as he saw the blond. It was easy to see that he was taking Iruka's death quite hard as well.

"It's good to see you too. Where's Ayame?" Naruto asked as he took a seat.

"I gave her the week off. She took his death even harder than I did. She has known him her entire life, after all." Teuchi said. It was clear that he was avoiding saying _his_ name.

"Tell her I asked about her." Naruto said with a nod. "Can I get a large ramen with roasted pork fillet?"

Teuchi let out a soft chuckle. "Sure… I should have figured you'd get the usual."

"You bet!" Naruto said with a grin, though it was mostly forced. Whether the ramen chef knew that or not, Naruto could only guess. He certainly did not call him on it.

"So, you graduated?" Teuchi asked after a few minutes.

Naruto stopped for a moment and said, "Yeah, I took up a make-up exam a few hours before…." The lie came off his tongue believably, but he hated that he had to lie to the ramen chef.

"That's good at least. At least his favorite student graduated before he died." Teuchi said quietly. "He must have been proud of you."

Hearing those words made Naruto remember his conversation with the Third Hokage shortly after Iruka's death….

_Naruto nodded slowly, reluctance clear in his eyes. "Old Man, why did he save me from Mizuki? The fox that killed his parents is inside me, right?"_

"_That's right. The Fourth Hokage sealed the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox inside of you. He did it to save the village." Hiruzen said as he looked towards Iruka's corpse. "I don't think it mattered to Iruka though. He saved you because he carried the Will of Fire, as do you. It wasn't just a duty or responsibility to him, though. Can't you tell? He died with a smile on his face… the kind of smile that you have when you are proud of your student. He did not die immediately. He no doubt saw you use the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu."_

Naruto snapped out of it and nodded his head. "I'd like to think he was." With that, he went back to eating his ramen.

* * *

><p>"This is it." Naruto muttered under his breath as he reached the door to the classroom where Genin Orientation was to take place. With his luck the way it was, the classroom that was picked just had to be Iruka's.<p>

Taking a deep breath, he entered the classroom.

"You graduated?" Shikamaru asked as he glanced back at Naruto from his chair with a yawn. "I know, I know. You're wearing a forehead protector. Don't be so troublesome."

Naruto almost chuckled at hearing his friend's words. He must have thought that Naruto would have boasted about his new status as a Leaf ninja if he had not been stopped.

Looking around the classroom, Naruto quickly saw that his crush, Sakura Haruno, was sitting next to Sasuke Uchiha. In addition to that, the only seat next to her was being occupied by a fan girl, whose name Naruto could not remember.

Seeing that there was an empty seat next to Shikamaru, he sat down and shot a grateful look at the Nara for not mentioning Iruka.

About fifteen minutes later, the door of the classroom opened and Daikoku Funeno, another chunin-sensei of the Academy, entered the room.

Walking to the front of the class, he stood behind his podium and looked across the classroom.

"Welcome to your Genin Orientation." Daikoku said. "Let's get started…."

"This is his place?" Asuma asked as he glanced at his father.

"Yes, this is where Naruto lives." Hiruzen Sarutobi answered. "Can't you tell?" At the last part, he gestured to the bed covered in an orange comforter.

"It's a bit of a dump." Asuma said as he looked around. The apartment was not in that bad of condition, but Naruto did not clean house very often, if ever. The bed was only half made up, there were still some dirty dishes in the sink, and it looked like the floor throughout the apartment had not been cleaned in at least a month. He suspected that it had been longer than that though. His father had told him that Naruto ate out about as often as he ate in.

"He's always been a hyperactive knucklehead that thinks more of pulling pranks and training than he does of taking care of this place." Hiruzen said. "He's been depressed lately though."

"Well, at least it won't be hard to motivate him into training." Asuma said as he fingered his pack of cigarettes. He planned on smoking once he got out of the apartment. It would have been incredibly rude to smoke inside the apartment, after all.

"That's very true." Hiruzen agreed. "It appears that you think that they will pass your test. You just implied that he would, after all."

Asuma nodded once.

Hiruzen did not ask about his son's confidence in the students that had been assigned to him. He saw no need. Few people knew his son as well as he did, after all.

"If they pass, I should study up on fuinjutsu. I never thought I'd have a jinchuriki for a student." Asuma commented, looking at the old Hokage.

Hiruzen nodded in agreement without looking at his son. "If he passes, understanding more about his seal will certainly be necessary for you. Accidents happen occasionally."

Asuma looked at his father curiously, wondering what he meant by the last line. It sounded like he personally had experienced such an accident, but that would not have made sense to Asuma. After all, Naruto was the first jinchuriki that the village had ever had. At least, that's what he had been told.

"I need to go and show Kakashi around Sasuke's place now. I will speak with you later." Hiruzen said as he walked to the door and left.

Asuma waved as his father reached the door and quickly began to inspect the apartment more thoroughly.

He looked through Naruto's closet to see what types of clothes he had. He was relieved to see that the blond had gotten a few decent shinobi outfits.

He then looked through the cabinets to see what kind of food that Naruto stocked the house with. Seeing that Naruto only bought ramen to eat, Asuma sighed.

Finally, he looked through the kid's fridge. Though it was mostly empty, Asuma did find something that was wrong about it. A carton of expired milk sat on the shelf of the fridge.

Grabbing the expired carton, Asuma shut the door. He then poured the milk down the drain and threw the carton away before he left the apartment. It seemed that he had seen everything that he needed to.

* * *

><p>A few hours later….<p>

Naruto sat in rapt attention as the chunin talked about how the twenty-seven students that graduated would be put in three man cells under a jonin-sensei. Two of the teams had already been called out, but none of his friends had been placed yet.

"Team Seven will be composed of Choji Akimichi, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha." Daikoku said.

Upon hearing that he would not get to be with his crush, Naruto could not help but feel a little down. He was thankful that he would not be in Sasuke's team though. The fact that Sasuke was on the team made him feel sorry for Choji, of course.

Shikamaru sighed at hearing that he would not get to be on the same team as his best friend.

Ino mentally cursed as hearing that she would not get to be on Sasuke's team while Sakura did. Her thoughts were shared by a good majority of the kunoichi present.

The reactions of the team members did not seem to be too unexpected either. Sakura was overjoyed while Sasuke was indifferent and Choji was content, though sad at not getting to be on Shikamaru's team.

"Team Eight will be composed of Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, and Kiba Inuzuka." Daikoku said next.

All three of the genin looked like they had expected that team arrangement and were content with it, though Hinata wished that she had gotten put on Naruto's team.

"Team Nine is still in rotation. Team Ten will be composed of Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Naruto Uzumaki." Daikoku said after that, causing all three genin to be surprised.

'This is going to be troublesome. The two loudest blondes I've ever met are on my team.' Shikamaru thought with a sigh.

'Oh great… I am stuck with the knucklehead and the lazy cloud watcher… this sucks….' Ino thought.

'Iruka-sensei would want me to accept it without complaint.' Naruto thought. He knew that he could have been put on a much worse team.

An hour later, the graduates were back inside the classroom. They had just come back from lunch, where Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru had eaten together in silence. It surprised Shikamaru and Ino greatly that Naruto had not spoken a word since he entered the classroom earlier.

A few minutes after lunch break was called to an end, Asuma Sarutobi entered the classroom and looked at Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru. "I am the sensei of Team Ten. Meet me on the roof." he said. He then turned around and walked back outside of the classroom.

'I wonder who that guy was.' Naruto thought as he got up and headed out the door with Shikamaru and Ino following him. The jonin looked familiar to him, but he could not recall where he had seen him from.

When they reached the roof, they saw the jonin sitting on a bench. When he gestured toward the bench across from them, they took a seat.

"Okay, I'd like each of you to introduce yourselves so that I'll know a bit more about you." Asuma said. "I'll go first. My name is Asuma Sarutobi. I like to train, do missions, and enjoy life. I dislike anyone that would betray their country, village, comrades, or their personal values. My hobbies include playing shogi and go. And my dream is to… well, you don't need to know that just yet. Now, it's your turn, pineapple head."

"I'm Shikamaru Nara. I like to sleep. I dislike being woken up. My hobbies include sleeping and watching clouds. And my dream is to have an average life full of cloud watching and sleeping." Shikamaru said with a yawn.

'He is by far the laziest shinobi I have ever met.' Asuma thought as he shook his head. "Okay, it's your turn, blondie number one." As he said the last part, he pointed at Ino.

"My name's Ino Yamanaka, not blondie number one. I like Sasuke, cherry tomatoes, pudding, and training with my dad. I dislike billboard brow, smelly dogs, sashimi, and annoying brats. My hobbies are shopping, gardening, and dieting. And my dream is to become a great kunoichi and…." Ino said, trailing off with a blush. It was clear that Sasuke was in her mind at that moment.

'It's a shame all kunoichi her age are more interested in romance than ninjutsu.' Asuma thought with a sigh. "Now, it's your turn, blondie number two."

Asuma expected to get a reaction out of Naruto as a result of calling him 'blondie,' but he simply received a calm look and an introduction.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen and Kono. I hate traitors and the three minutes it takes to cook ramen. My hobbies are training and… never mind. My dream is to become the greatest Hokage in history and make _him_ proud." Naruto said with a far off look in his eyes.

'Iruka's death has hit him even harder than I expected.' Asuma thought. 'And Kono… is he talking about Konohamaru? I did not think that they had even met.'

Breaking away from such thoughts, he nodded his head. He could see potential in all three students, but they needed a great deal of work.

"Now that that is out of the way, I can say this. You three are not genin yet." Asuma said, surprising all three of them. "You took the preliminary test in the Academy. It was meant to weed out those who did not stand a chance at becoming genin. We wouldn't be one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages if we made everyone that passed such a simple test become shinobi. No… there's a sixty-six percent failure rate in the true final test. It is given by each jonin. As a result, only nine of you are likely to pass this year. The test will be tomorrow. Meet me at…." Asuma never finished speaking though.

Naruto slammed his hands down on his knees, catching everyone's attention. The look in his eyes made it clear to Asuma that he felt that it was unfair. Having to go through what he did and not even being a genin… that was simply wrong. "Why wait until tomorrow? We'll ace your stupid test right now."

Asuma blinked in surprise before tilting his head to the side in thought.

'Why wait until tomorrow? That's a damned good question.' Asuma thought. He knew the actual reason. The wait was designed to make the graduates nervous and rattle them up. Shikamaru was clearly too lazy to get nervous and rattled up though, and the look in Naruto's eyes made him see that not even a threat of death would make him feel concerned. Waiting just to make Ino nervous or rattle her up… that just seemed pointless.

"Okay… follow me." Asuma said, surprising the genin.

"Naruto, why did you say that? We could have had more time to prepare." Ino said as she sat up.

"What would you do to prepare? He could make the test anything he wanted. If he said that we had to hop on one foot, flap an arm like it's a wing, and cluck like a chicken for six hours straight, then we'd fail if we could not do so." Naruto said calmly, surprising Ino and Shikamaru. He seemed a completely different person to them. "Don't worry; I'd never do anything to cause you guys to fail the test though. I won't fail my comrades." He mentally added, 'Not again, anyways….'

'For that statement alone, he passes regardless of how the others do.' Asuma thought. It's not like it mattered how he did anyways. Naruto did not pass the Graduation Exams; he was made a genin by the Hokage. If their team failed, then Naruto would retain his rank. Asuma would not get to teach him if that happened though.

* * *

><p>Fifteen minutes later….<p>

"Now, I will explain this test I have for you. The test is actually really simple. I have three bells that will be tied at my right hip. Your objective is to get the bells from me. If you wish to succeed, come at me with the intent to kill." Asuma said as he tied three bells to his right hip.

"But sensei, that's dangerous…." Ino said, nervous about coming at anyone, even their jonin-sensei, with the intent to kill.

"I'm an elite jonin, and you're fresh out of the Academy. I seriously doubt that you could kill me unless I stayed still and did not defend myself. After all, the only offensive capabilities that you are currently in possession of are ninja tools." Asuma said with a raised eyebrow. "Now, you may begin when ready."

As soon as Asuma said those words, Shikamaru casually walked into the forest surrounding the training ground while Ino jumped away to figure out a good way to deal with him.

"Oh, so you're not running?" Asuma asked as he saw Naruto stay there. He then glanced down as he pulled out his cigarettes and removed one from the pack. He placed it in his mouth and lit it as Naruto removed a kunai from his kunai holster.

"Why would I? I can't get the bells if I do that." Naruto said.

"You should just give up. You're not going to stand a chance at getting these bells otherwise." Asuma said as he let out a puff of smoke.

"Shut up!" Naruto said as he threw his kunai at Asuma, who simply moved his head to the left. The kunai went by him harmlessly.

"Who taught you to throw a kunai? They obviously weren't very good at it." Asuma said.

The jonin was taken aback by the sudden look in Naruto's eyes at that moment. No longer was there fierce determination or rage in his blue eyes. Instead, cold fury could be seen. Cold fury was almost contradictory in nature. The name was used to describe a form of anger that was calm and calculating.

Forming the ram hand sign, Naruto said, "Ino, Shikamaru, you might want to get into position. This guy is a jonin. I shouldn't have to say anything more."

Shikamaru suddenly kneeled down next to Ino in the surrounding forest.

"Naruto's going to distract him. Once it works, I'll use the Shadow Possession Jutsu to capture him. Can you use your family jutsu to take control of him?" Shikamaru asked in a whisper. When she nodded, he formed the rat hand sign and looked at Naruto and Asuma.

'What is he doing?' Asuma thought as he watched Naruto build up so much chakra that it was visible. He was not sure if he could even mold that much chakra without suffering from chakra exhaustion. When Naruto's hands moved to a modified tiger hand sign, his eyes widened. 'Shit! He's going to use the….'

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu" Naruto said. In an instant, three hundred shadow clones formed around Asuma, completely throwing off everyone present.

'Hearing and seeing… they're way different.' Asuma thought as his cigarette fell out of his mouth.

In an instant, the shadow clones charged towards Asuma, though the real Naruto stood back with his fists balled and slightly shaking. Insulting Iruka, even when done unintentionally, was something that was taboo to the blond. It was like calling Choji fat. It just was not done.

When the shadow clones neared Asuma, Shikamaru and Choji leapt to Naruto's sides with their family hand signs already formed.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu… success…." Shikamaru said as he sent his shadow through the mob of clones and connected with Asuma's.

"Dispel!" Naruto yelled. Immediately, all of his shadow clones to dispel, leaving Asuma frozen.

"Mind Transfer Jutsu" Ino called out as she shot her mind into Asuma's body.

Ino's body slumped over immediately, and Asuma said, "I'm in control."

Shikamaru shook his head. "It would be troublesome to take the risk of him breaking your hold of him and failing the test." He then moved his hand down to his side, making Asuma's hand fall to the bells. He then made Asuma remove the bells and throw them towards Naruto, who caught them.

Ino canceled her jutsu and looked at Shikamaru furiously. "What the hell was that for? Why did you tell me to do that when you were just going to get the bells yourself?"

"It's because this is a test of teamwork." Shikamaru said with a yawn. "Why else would we have to get _three_ bells from a _jonin_ when we are simply _three genin_?"

"What? Are you serious?" Ino asked shocked.

"Yeah, he is." Asuma said. "I didn't really care if you got the bells. You just had to work together and try to get them."

"Let me at him!" Ino said as she suddenly tried to run towards Asuma, though Naruto stopped her by grabbing her by the shoulder.

"He's our sensei. Do you want to piss him off?" Naruto asked.

"I guess not…." Ino said with a reluctant sigh.

"Can you let me out of your jutsu now, Shikamaru? This is one jutsu that I can't break out of." Asuma said, looking at his student.

Shikamaru shrugged as he released the jutsu. "Can we go now? I have some clouds that need watching."

"Yeah, you three can go now." Asuma said with a small laugh. "Meet me in front of the Administration Building tomorrow morning at eight o'clock. We'll start missions and training then."


End file.
